Assaf is the Director of Education at UnitEd. He works in the fields of Jewish Education, Museum Education and Comics and Graphic Novels. Prior to joining UnitEd, Assaf served as the first director of the Jewish renewal Division at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. He was Director of Education at Anu-Museum of the Jewish People (Tel Aviv). He served as curator of the Israeli Cartoon Museum, where he curated international and local exhibitions on editorial cartoons, comics and graphic novels. He teaches courses on Jewish Education, Museum Pedagogy and Philosophy of Education at Tel-Aviv University, Shenkar College of Design and Seminar HaKybutsim Teachers' College. His co-edited book "Comics & Sacred Texts” (with Prof. Ken Koltun-Fromm), has won the 2018 Best Edited Volume Award from the American Popular Culture Association (APA/PCA).

Gems:

• Help students appreciate our Torah, history, and culture on a more meaningful and profound level.
• Instill curiosity within your students.
• Ask students the big questions to help them figure out who they are.
• Create an environment in the classroom of acceptance of where each student is.
• Inspire students to connect with who we are as a nation and where we came from.
• Build a foundation of trust.
• It’s Ok to bring humor to education.
• Hebrew is a central pillar of Jewish education.
• Engage with Hebrew and don’t be afraid to make mistakes; have no shame.
• What are the most urgent needs of other educators and students?
• Talk with children about what’s going on in Israel.
• Prepare students for what they may face on university campuses by talking with them and giving them the resources they will need to thrive.
• Show our students that Jews around the world are linked to Israel.
• Teach children our history and its relevance in their everyday lives.
• Education is about knowledge, but also about having a deep connection to our history, faith, and culture, and establishing relevance to our lives.
• Chinuch should be learner centered.
• Don’t think that the entire fate of the Jewish world rests on your shoulders.
• Focus on what you can do!
• Remember why you became an educator in the first place.

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